Exclusive:
Cameron Dallas Regrets Being So Ashamed of His Acne He Used to to Photoshop It Out

If you could close your eyes and wish away one of your biggest insecurities, which one would you choose? If someone asked Cameron Dallas that question a few years ago, his answer would have been easy: his acne.

“I struggled with breakouts so much throughout my teenage years,” he confesses to J-14 exclusively. “I was probably 14 years old when it really became a problem, and it was so embarrassing at the time. I felt like I was in a continuous awkward phase and nobody else was!”

Cameron’s friends’ skin gradually started to clear up as they got older, but Cam says that wasn’t the case for him at all.

“Nothing worked for me!” he explains to us. “I tried everything from seeing doctors and getting prescriptions to doing home remedies. Sometimes I would even use whatever products my sister had in the bathroom just to see if it’d make a difference. I’d search for things that said ‘acne’ on the bottle then secretly try it out, but I never had any luck!”

With each failed attempt, Cameron’s self-esteem slowly started to go down. And before he knew it, his breakouts were all he could think about. Because of this, he says Photoshop played a huge role in helping him conceal his zits on Instagram when he started making a name for himself online.

“It was one of the first things I learned to use when I started doing social media,” he admits to J-14. “I used [Photoshop] all the time on my pics because I was so self-conscious about my acne back then.”

However, keeping his zits hidden wasn’t as easy when it came to being out in public. “I just hated how I looked and that people would instantly notice that I didn’t look like I did in my photos,” he opens up. “I remember I used to hide from people that would see me and ask for a picture because I didn’t want them to see how bad my complexion was at the time.”

Then, one day, a fan introduced him to a new product, X Out, and it changed his life. “I couldn’t believe I was actually seeing changes in my skin,” he shares. “Using the X Out products has been great because you only have to use one product, compared to a lot of other skin care regimens that require multiple steps.”

These days, Cameron is grateful that he’s finally found a product that helps him fight zits. But he doesn’t want his fans to ever let their acne control their lives as much as it did his!

“Acne is something everyone deals with,” he explains to us. “So if you find yourself breaking out, just remember that you’re not alone. You have nothing to be embarrassed about.”

In fact, the social media star confesses that his biggest regret when he was younger was not being able to be comfortable in his skin.

“I wish I hadn’t been so ashamed about it," he admits to only J-14. “That’s why not I try to be honest with my fans and will sometimes Snap or Instagram a picture showing when I have a ‘bad skin’ day, because it happens! It’s just part of life and it’s not something that I let bother me as much anymore.” We’re so glad!

Interview and story by Morgan McMurrin. "Cameron: 'I'm not insecure about my zits anymore!'" originally appeared in the July 2017 issue of J-14.